The long term goal of this project is to define the processes involved in the assembly, multiplication and degradation of mitochondria and to learn how these processes are controlled. Mitochondrial assembly involves the coordination of genetic information of the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes, and the integration of the synthetic process of the cytoplasmic and mitochondrial systems. Techniques are now available to characterize all the mitochondrial transcipts, and translation products, as well as to generate substantial amounts of segments of mtDNA by cloning in bacteria. With these techniques we wish to obtain a complete detailed map of mtDNA, and a complete characterization of its gene products. We wish to obtain an accurate and relatively detailed molecular map of mtDNA, including the localization of tRNA, rRNA and structural genes. With this in hand we would then pursue the study of the control of mitochondrial transcription, i.e. whether there is one or multiple promotor sites and how these are controlled. The availability of a variety of mutants including petite mutants which provide an easy way to generate mtDNA fragments and allow deletion mapping; the mit mutants which probably represent point and small deletion mutants involving the various structural and regulatory genes on mtDNA; antibiotic resistant mutants which may involve structural genes of rRNA; and possibly tRNA mutants provide us with a large array of mutants for experimental analysis. Their characterization would provide us with experimental approaches to help us understand how the mitochondrial genome affects the nuclear-cytoplasmic system, and how nuclear-cytoplasmic system controls mitochondrial transcription and translation.